International

US envoy: Greenland ‘was not on a map’ until Trump ‘put it on a map’

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by Tara Suter - 05/20/26 8:33 PM ET

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by Tara Suter - 05/20/26 8:33 PM ET

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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) claimed that Greenland “was not on a map” until President Trump “put it on a map,” comments that follow rhetoric for months from the president to acquire the island.

“What I’ve found, that Greenland was not on a map, until Donald Trump put it on a map,” Landry, who is also Trump’s special envoy to Greenland, said in a clip posted to the social platform X on Tuesday.

“In other words, the United States, before Donald Trump, had basically ignored this place,” he added. “And I think it’s really to the detriment of both the relationship between the United States and Greenland, and opportunities that we could bring Greenlanders, I think that that’s important as well. And so, I would tell you, that the credit to bringing opportunity to Greenland is squarely on Donald Trump.”

Landry visited Greenland this week and told a Danish media outlet that he spoke on Saturday night to Trump, who told him to “go there and make a bunch of friends,” according to the Times-Picayune/NOLA.com.

The New York Times reported that when he was touring the Greenlandic capital of Nuuk, a local flipped off Landry and a group he was with.

“As I leave this great island, I am incredibly grateful for the warm welcome and eye-opening conversations. I regret that I only had time to visit the people of Nuuk, and look forward to experiencing everything else that Greenland has to offer on future trips,” Landry said in a post on X on Wednesday.

Earlier this year, Trump faced tensions with European allies over his quest to acquire Greenland. The Arctic island is a territory of Denmark, which is a member of the NATO alliance alongside the U.S.

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